Tonight’s #UTEdchat is hosted by Dave Horan (@downrightdave). Dave is an Innovative Learning Coach in Alpine School District and a former 4th-grade teacher. He is also a member of the UCET Board and a Hope Street Groups Utah Teacher Fellow and loves being involved with both groups and helping teachers in Utah. Dave will be leading tonight’s #UTedChat with an awesome topic of Teacher Advocacy and Involvement. Prepare for some great discussion and a lot of fun tonight.

If you haven’t already followed Dave via Twitter (@downrightdave) you should probably do so because it will help you to better follow the chat.

As always, please be sure to include #UTedChat in your responses so everyone participating can see your thoughts and ideas.

Q1- Who do you think the most influential decision-makers are in education? Explain.

Q2- What do you know about how decisions about education are made at a state, district, and school level? What would you like to know?

Q3 – What experiences have you had with your state/local school board members? If you haven’t had experiences, why would these relationships be important?

Q4 – How do the state and local school boards affect your life as an educator?

Q5 – Do you believe it’s important for teachers to be involved in local politics? Explain.

Q6 – How do teachers influence decisions made about education on a school, district, or state level?

Q7 – How can you help non-educators understand education issues on the ballot?

Dave Horan is the 2018 UCET Outstanding Young Educator of the Year as well as the 2018 Freedom Elementary Teacher of the Year. He spent 10 years in the classroom as a 4th-grade teacher and is currently an Innovative Learning Coach in Alpine School District. Dave is a Hope Street Group Utah Fellow as well as an elected UCET board member. He is the Inspiration of #DaveWeekand can often be found on Twitter talking education and LOTS of Utah Jazz and BYU sports.

Saturday, December 2, I went to a rally for Bear’s Ears at the Utah State Capitol. It was heartening to see so many people, (5,000 according to KSL) involving themselves in the politics of this country IN A PEACEFUL manner. I found out afterward that one of my students was there. Several people I know were there whom I did not see.

Little kids were dressed up in teddy bear costumes. I could not believe how many old people were there, people older than me with canes and walkers. A little old lady with a walker asked me to sign a petition against gerrymandering. The protest signs were amazing some very funny, some clever, and some pretty risque. I had the opportunity to talk to law enforcement. I started a conversation with a canine officer and ended up talking to his human partner. Aaron was a very interesting and friendly human and AAros was such a handsome dog. He was wearing goggles so his eyes would not accidentally get poked by a wayward sign.

Officers Aaron & AAros

I ran into one of my friends and a member of my book club while there. We read mostly non-fiction books like, Hillbilly Elegy, Sons of Witchita: The Koch Brothers, This Fight is Our Fight by Elizabeth Warren. Every month we whine, “What can we do to make our country better?” “Encourage people to vote.” “Have frank discussions.” “Listen to both sides.” “Write to our legislators.”

Going to that rally was something I could DO. I could be NOT NEUTRAL. I could take a stand and make my voice heard. That’s what I did. I felt empowered, righteous, proud. It was great. I wish I could have attended the rally again today but it was not possible.

This is what I am going to tell my book club I am doing. Getting Involved! Are you?

Do YOU know a school librarian who embraces challenges, spends her/his time

UELMA 2018 Conference Logo

collaborating and being all-around indispensable? Do students flock to the school library because they enjoy books, reading, giving and getting feedback and suggestions from that librarian? Do you go to that librarian for advice about Nearpod, Kahoot, Adobe Spark or other technology questions? Nominate that jewel for a UELMA award! We need to encourage those amazing library teachers who advocate and support student learning with

The following is a message from the Utah Teacher Fellows Program. Please consider taking a few minutes either today (Friday) or tomorrow (Saturday) to share your semi-anonymous (they need your school district information) thoughts on the topic of Teacher Leaders and Leadership.

We are working to gather teacher perspectives around the topic of Teacher Leaders and Leadership. We want to make sure that opinions of licensed k-12 teachers from all regions of Utah are included in our report.

Our survey will only take a few minutes to complete and the opinions you and your colleagues share are instrumental in informing education policy here in Utah. Your responses are anonymous.

After you take the survey, can you please share the survey link with your colleagues? If you are an administrator, could you encourage all the teachers at your school to participate? The more teachers who share their voice, the bigger the impact.

NOTE: The following information is taken from the Digital Citizenship Summit webpage. It has been posted below to help spread the word about the summit. Please consider attending and inviting parents, students and school community councils.

Join hundreds of influencers at the third annual Digital Citizenship Summit (DigCitSummit) hosted by EPIK Deliberate Digital in Provo, UT. The theme this year is EXPAND.

EXPAND the conversation around kids and technology.

EXPAND your network.

EXPAND our shared impact toward a more Positive DigCit culture.

This flagship DigCitSummit event will be different than most conferences. We won't be having a one-way lecture/panel model, but rather will be engaging together in roundtable sharing and discussion. Every voice will matter, including the voices of youth who attend the meetings. #NotAboutThemWithoutThem

See our FAQ for more details about age and other requirements for youth attendance. For travel and lodging information, please see the DigCitSummit travel & lodging microsite created by our service partner, the Utah Valley Visitor's Bureau.

The DigCitSummit is really about creating a movement of people making an impact — ripples — in their own spheres to change the way we as adults and kids alike talk about, teach, and engage the powerful and ever-expanding digital landscape of our day.